Local

Nobody was overheating at the first Splash n Dash of the summer Wednesday evening.
After the participants finished swimming in the Larry R. Walkup Aquatic Center, a nice cool rain started falling as they were running.
“This is the first one I remember getting rained on,” Bill Dunn of the Los Alamos Triatomics said.
The rain didn’t stop the event, even though a few people were nice and wet when they finished the swim and the run.
Times are kept at the Splash n Dashes, but no winners are announced. The events aren’t competitions in themselves, they’re preparation for upcoming competitions.
“We call it a training a exercise,” Dunn said. “The thinking is a lot of people will do the LA Triathlon. This is a way to track your progress.”
The Splash n Dashes are a “brick,” which means the athletes do two sports back-to-back. Participants can choose to do a 200-meter swim and then a 3K run, or a 400-meter swim and then a 5K run.
“What’s cool is you always push yourself harder when you’re enemy is in front of you,” Dunn said. “Once you pass them they’re your friend again, but they’re your enemy when they’re in front of you. That’s the big benefit of group things; you push yourself harder.”

Nicholas Parra-Vasquez and Ted Romero were the best predictors in Tuesday’s Pace Race. On the three-mile course, Parra-Vasquez was 9 seconds off his prediction while Romero was 16 seconds off his prediction.
Katie Gattiker was 61 seconds off her prediction.
In the one-mile race, Martin Pieck was 27 seconds off and Bob Weeks was 29 seconds off his prediction.
Tuesday’s Pace Race was held on trails to the Estante Overlook and in Potrillo Canyon.
The fastest runners on the one-mile course were Jason Pieck (8 minutes, 34 seconds) and Sophia Pieck (9:01).
The fastest runners at the three-mile distance were Romero (21:46) and Laura Woodroffe (27:37).
Next Tuesday’s Pace Race will start off North Mesa Road, about 100 yards east of the roundabout on the road to the Posse Shack.
For more information, call 672-1639 or visit atomicrunners.com.

Los Alamos’ Bruce Norman had the best round of anybody June 17 at the Black Mesa Golf Club in a Northern New Mexico Senior Men’s Golf Association tournament.
Norman shot a 74-gross score to win the event’s championship flight, beating Santa Fe’s Rob Schneider by a single stroke. They were the only two golfers to shoot in the 70’s on the course.
His 74 strokes are the best score anyone from Los Alamos has shot this year on the NNMSMGA tour.
Norman also landed closest to the pin on the 15th hole.
Locals also did well at Buffalo Thunder’s Towa Golf Club June 16 in another NNMSMGA tournament.
Phil Gursky shot an 85-gross score to finish second in the first flight.
Fred Thomas won the second flight with a 91-gross score.
Los Alamos residents also landed closest to the pin on three of the four holes contested.
Kerry Coffelt landed closest on Valley-nine’s second hole, Jim Steedle landed closest on the Valley’s seventh hole while Quinn Cremer had the best drive on the Boulder’s ninth hole.

An archer lifts his binoculars to his eyes and stares down a deer standing in the forest. After a few seconds he lowers the glasses and pulls an arrow out of his quiver, threads it on his bow string, pulls the string back and takes aim.
He knows he’ll only get one shot at the animal, so he takes his time.
The animal, a hard-foam 3-D rendering of a real deer, has a scoring ring in its vital area. A kill shot is worth the most points. A shot to the butt or leg isn’t worth anything.
The archer releases his arrow, then pulls out his binoculars again to see how many points he scored.
After every one in the group shoots, they walk up to the animal, pull their arrows and write everybody’s score down.
Then they move on to the next of 25 animals and try for another kill shot through the thick forest.
The 3-D target archery shoot drew over 137 archers — men and women, adults and kids — to Pajarito last weekend, Friday through Sunday.
Archers came from all over New Mexico, Colorado and Texas for the first shoot at the mountain. About 30 locals also participated in the event while lots of other locals ran the event.

The Family YMCA in Los Alamos is hosting its annual Firecracker 5K Family Fun Run on July 4.
The 5K is open to people of all ages that want to walk, run or jog in the festive event.
Prizes will go to the top male and female finishers in youth, adult, adult 60-plus and dog jogger divisions.
The best-costumed participant will also win bagels for a year from Ruby K’s.
All participants will get the annual Fun Run T-shirt and are eligible to win random door prizes.
The 5K race route starts in the YMCA parking lot, turns north on 15th to Canyon. Then it goes west on Canyon toward the Aquatic Center and all the way to Diamond. The route then makes a U-turn at the crosswalk and returns to the YMCA along same route, running with traffic.
Early registration, prior to July 4, at the YMCA, 1450 Iris Street, is encouraged. Race day check-in on July 4 is from 7-7:45 a.m. The race will start at 8 a.m. The price is $30, or $20 for YMCA members, and $10 for youth under 14 years old.
Volunteers are also needed to help with set-up and takedown, registration check-in, traffic control and to help award prizes. The volunteers will be given race T-shirts.
Register for the race or sign up to volunteer at the YMCA, or call 662-3100 for more information.

A celebration luncheon for Los Alamos’ Senior Olympic athletes was held at the Betty Ehart Senior Center on Friday.
In March and April, 30 local athletes 50-and-older qualified for the State Senior Olympic Games held in Roswell June 3-6.
Twenty athletes competed in 14 sports at the state games. Results are pending certification by the New Mexico State Olympics Board.
The athletes competed in events ranging from basketball, bowling and dance to horseshoes, huachas, pickleball, disc golf, track and field, race walk, road race, shuffleboard, swimming and table tennis.
Local athletes are welcome to join the group; its motto “is if you are 50 plus, come play with us.”
For information contact Ann ReVelle at laseniorolympics@gmail.com or 662-3526.

The first of four Splash n Dashes will take place Wednesday at the Larry R. Walkup Aquatic Center.
There will also be a Splash n Dash events on July 8, July 22 and Aug. 8.
This year, the event will have a long course featuring a 4,000-meter swim and 5K run, and a short course featuring a 2,000-meter swim and 3K run.
Teams and floatation devices are permitted in both.
Registration for each event opens at 6:20 p.m. at the back of the aquatic center. Instructions will start at 6:50 p.m. and the first swimmer will push off at 7 p.m.
The Los Alamos Triatomics Multi-Sports Club and Los Alamos County Parks and Recreation sponsor the event so it is free and open to all. Registration, however, is limited to 75 people.
The event is not a race. It’s a training event.
The club will provide people’s swim, run and overall time, but the start is staggered. There are no awards for time or place. Lots of folks participate with their kids in a variety of creative ways
People who aren’t strong swimmers should still be able to complete the swim portion. Any stroke is permitted and, unlike the Los Alamos Triathlon, any sort of floating device is allowed.
There will be three swim groups: A, B and C. Participants can choose their own group and will be assigned a number.

After spending six years sailing around the world, Larry Hersman said our planet is grossly misnamed. “It should be called water,” Hersman told an audience of LA Mountaineers Wednesday at the Fuller Lodge.
The water, however, wasn’t always blue on his voyage. Sometimes it was fluorescent.
One night while he was on watch, sailing south by southwest off the coast of Morocco, the water danced with color.
The water was full of fosforescente algae and the waves that his boat, Journey, created would disturb the algae and they’d give off photons of light that would streak the water.
Then a group of dolphins swam next to the boat, weaving in and out of each other and leaving patterns of fluorescent light in their wake. Hersman and his friend started clapping for the dolphins and the animals really got into it. “They think they’re so cool,” Hersman said. “They’re really intelligent animals.”
It was a pitch-black night so they couldn’t see the dolphins — all they could see was the neon lights floating this way and that way in the water.
That night was one of his more memorable experiences on his journey that he called “awesome” and “life-changing.”

Golf sale
People can tell dad they love him with some new golf accessories and help out the Los Alamos High School golf team at the same time.
This Sunday, from 8 a,m.-3:30 p.m., the team is hosting its annual golf sale at the Los Alamos Golf Course’s old pro shop.
“The equipment being sold is very reasonably priced and is a great purchase for beginner, intermediate players,” coach Andy Ainsworth said.
Donations are also being accepted for the fund-raiser, which benefits the LAJGA.Donations of items can be left at the golf pro shop before Sunday.
Team members and volunteers, Sheldon and Carrie Apgar, will ready the sale items for the Sunday extravaganza.
So get out those golf bags, clubs and other accessories that might be collecting dust and donate them to benefit local youth programs.
“The LAJGA runs on about $5,000 per year,” Ainsworth said. “We raise funds to support junior golf in Los Alamos and the funds aid in offsetting the costs for the Los Alamos High School golf teams.”

Thirty-five runners and walkers enjoyed excellent weather for Tuesday night’s pace race that started and ended at the Los Alamos County Ice Rink in Los Alamos Canyon.
Duane Marr had an adjusted error of 3 seconds on the one-mile course while Ryan Smeltzer had an error of 11 seconds on the three-mile course.
The only other prediction error under 25 seconds was Roy Cope’s 21-second miss.
The fastest male and female runners on the one-mile course were Jason Pieck (9:34) and Sophia Pieck (10:08).
On the three-mile course, the fastest runners were Ted Romero (21:47) and Nikol Strother (21:49).
Next Tuesday’s Pace Race will start at 6 p.m. It will begin on the Estante Overlook trailhead, which is off Estante Way in White Rock’s Pajarito Acres.
One and three mile courses will be available.
For more information call 672-1639 or visit the atomicrunners.com